The Vessel

Copyright ©1998 by Richard J. Sereday Jr.
All rights reserved

Our love was like the clay on a potter's wheel,

And we took this clay, and laid on it our hands,
and together we shaped it, and we formed it,

and we created a vessel of such great beauty,
in which to hold this love that was us,
and the vessel was our hearts.

And our creation was near completion
and the time was near at hand
for the glazing and the firing.

But in an instant
she took up the vessel
and slammed it to the floor,

and I cried out,
"Oh no! How can this be?"

"Together we put so much time and work ,
and so much of ourselves into
this vessel of such great beauty."

And she said,
"well, it did not look just exactly
as I thought that it should."

I told her that it was such a shame,
we had worked so hard,
and come so far,
to have it all destroyed.

I said I was so sure that we
could have created this vessel
in such a way that it would
please us both,
if only we might work together.

She agreed, so again, we took up the clay
and with our hands, together we worked,

and I ask, "what did you not like of
how it once was", and she told me,
and together we began to shape it,
and form it once again
into what we wanted it to be.

And as our vessel neared completion,
once again she dashed it to the floor,
and my heart cried.

"Please, oh please", I wept,
"not again, please not again,
why must this be?"

"We worked so hard, so hard,
and put so much of our hearts
into this vessel, oh, how sad".

And I soon realized that
this vessel could never be,

for in this imperfect world,
perfection can never be achieved,
and this I knew, but not she.

So I take my clay and my wheel,
and I hold them to my heart
as I walk away,
with tear in eye.

And all that remains are fragments.

The fragments of a broken heart,
and a broken trust,
afloat in the tears of a broken dream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So in this world of instant milk and instant coffee,
it is hard to understand why
no one has invented instant trust or instant love.

There is no way to create these things instantly,
but there is a way to destroy trust in an instant,
and choke love to death in this cloak of pain and mistrust.